Jordan Spieth shoots 63 at Torrey Pines

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Tiger Woods, hitting out of the bunker on No. 13, finished the second round with only two birdies and a 1-under 71.

Associated Press
January 25, 2014

Jordan Spieth turned out to be the star attraction Friday playing with Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines.

Spieth again showed game well beyond his 20 years with a 9-under-par 63 on the North Course, giving him a one-shot lead over Stewart Cink going into the weekend at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego. Cink drilled a 3-wood from 280 yards onto the green at the par-5 ninth on the tougher South Course for a two-putt birdie and a 71.

Woods rarely gets upstaged at Torrey Pines, where his eight professional wins include the 2008 US Open.

But in his first competition in six weeks, Woods hardly looked the part as the defending champion. He did not birdie any of the par 5s for the second straight day, and a three-putt bogey on the par-5 ninth hole on the North gave him a 71.

He was nine shots behind.

Phil Mickelson’s ailing back wasn’t much better, though Lefty plodded along and shot 73 on the South to finish eight shots out of the lead. Mickelson contemplated pulling out to rest his back, and said only that he would give it a shot Saturday, depending on how he felt.

It was the first time Spieth has played with Woods in a tournament — they played a practice round together at the Presidents Cup last fall — and the Texan felt and played as if it was any other round on the PGA Tour.

Then again, the first time he played with Mickelson, Spieth closed with a 62 at TPC Boston last year, a round that led Mickelson to call Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples and lobby for Spieth to be picked for the team.

In both cases, Spieth was more interested with the score than the audience.

‘‘Any time you can shoot a lower score than a 66 or 65 and you can really get it deep and be in a zone and not worry about what your score is . . . that’s special,’’ Spieth said. ‘‘That’s proving that I can play my best golf when it matters on a PGA Tour venue. Each time you can do that, you get more and more confident that you can do it more often.’’

As for playing with Woods? He only shrugged.

Spieth grew up watching, idolizing, and being amazed by Woods. But this was only a Friday.

‘‘They were both rounds that I needed to move up the leaderboard,’’ he said about playing with Woods this week and Mickelson last year. ‘‘They weren’t in the last couple groups on Sunday, so they weren’t to win. They were to get myself up and in a position.’’

Spieth was at 10-under 134 and will be in the last group Saturday with Cink and Nicolas Colsaerts, who shot 67 on the South and was two shots behind.

‘‘The kid’s got talent,’’ Woods said of Spieth. ‘‘He hits it a long way, phenomenal putter. He made a boat load of putts today from the 10- to 20-foot range, and on poa greens, that’s not easy to do. He was pouring them in there. He had speed to them, too. That’s what you have to do to putt on poa. He putted with a lot of confidence.’’

That wasn’t the case for Woods, whose only birdies came on his opening hole and on his sixth hole, a flip wedge to 4 feet.

LPGA — Jessica Korda took the second-round lead in the season-opening Bahamas Classic in Paradise Island, birdieing four of her last seven holes in high wind for a 7-under 66.

The 20-year-old Korda had an 11-under 135 total on Atlantis Resort’s Ocean Club course.

Paula Creamer, playing alongside Korda, was a stroke back after a 65. Michelle Wie and Monday qualifier Jenny Suh were tied for third at 9 under. Wie had a 65, and Suh 66.

Lydia Ko, the 16-year-old New Zealander who shared the first-round lead with Meena Lee, was three strokes behind at 8 under after a 70. The fourth-ranked Ko is making her first start as an LPGA Tour member.

European — Rafa Cabrera-Bello squandered a two-shot lead and dropped into a tie with Steve Webster heading to the final round of the Qatar Masters in Doha.

Cabrera-Bello shot a 1-over-par 73 and was caught by Webster, who carded 70 at Doha Golf Club for three-round totals of 12-under 204. They were one stroke ahead of Adrien Saddier, the biggest mover with six birdies in his opening seven holes in a round of 64, Thomas Aiken (70), and Thorbjorn Olesen (68) on a packed leaderboard.